1st June 2026 is a significant day for UAE laws. Several important changes are coming into force, and if you live or work here, some of these will affect you directly.
This article is an easy-to-follow summary so you can keep up to date.
A few clients have contacted me to ask about whether their protection plans, their life insurance policies, are still valid considering the current situation in the UAE, and wider GCC.
In this article I explain the situation and give you some facts. Reassuring facts.
A change in UAE law affects expats who hold bank accounts, property, or other assets in the UAE.
I have written about the many reasons why you need a Will in the past (see 15 reasons here) but this is something new.
If you pass away without a registered Will, your assets are now classified as “unassigned.”
If your dream is to live and work in the USA, it may be easier than you think.
You can obtain a green card, with permanent residency in just a few months.
This is available to almost everyone and is the best value permanent immigration programme in the world.
The USA needs workers and this is how you can move to start a new life. Start your journey to permanent relocation in the USA.
The sad reality is that there are large number of scammers who are working hard to hack your accounts, obtain your information, and take your money. Far too many are successful but you can take some smart, and logical, steps to reduce your risk of falling prey to a scammer.
Fraudsters are organised and clever and will often choose their targets using information that you have posted or shared online. Some can even see spending habits so will target based on that. They can go to extraordinary lengths to try and convince you they are genuine so we all need to stay one step ahead.
These days, our lives are online and, in our smartphones, so we need to take steps to protect ourselves.
We need to take steps so we don’t become a victim.
In this article I want to give you some useful tips to keep your banking secure and on to avoid the most common financial scams.
Moving to the UAE is a big change. Living in the UAE, or even the wider GCC, is not quite like life elsewhere.
It is not uncommon for expats for make a few financial mistakes but proper planning, some research, and the right advice will make for a better experience, and a better life generally.
This article has a list of the most common errors and while some may seem obvious, they are all made regularly. Knowledge is power so have a read and make sure you aren’t making mistakes that you could easily avoid.
When you have children, you get lots of advice and tips from everyone but one area that tends to be overlooked is the financial aspect.
In the excitement of impending parenthood, or the crazy first few months – and years – you may never get around to taking some important financial steps. It’s too easy to forget this essential topic so this article is designed to be a useful guide to some of the issues you need to consider.
Multiple surveys have put the cost of raising a child at eye-watering levels over their first 18 years and expats working in the UAE have the added cost of education and medical bills to contend with.
Factor in university or college costs and the fact that many young adults may not be fully financially independent until closer to age 25, and you can see just how important it is to plan sensibly.
Let’s look at some of the financial steps you need to consider.
Many of us make New Year resolutions, but how many of those are about our finances? And how many of them do we really keep?
2020 and 2021 have been tough years for large numbers of people and we can’t be sure of what else is in store, but knowing you have taken all the right financial steps will put you in a good position to weather any future storm.
Invariably, we could all do a little better and some focus rarely goes amiss. With that in mind here’s a list of 10 steps you can take to get yourself financially fitter in 2022.
This article is designed to give you an overview of the sensible and practical steps that you should take to protect yourself and your family while resident in the UAE. I have written about each of these topics before, on this website, in the press, talked about it on radio and in presentations but it is so important that everyone understands what they should do to plan – just in case – and this article brings these topics together.
Sometimes in life the worse does happen, people die, and it is essential to be prepared, even more so when living in the UAE.
In 18 years in the UAE I have been involved in a number of cases where a client has died and it is a particularly stressful experience due to local complications. Planning ahead and doing all you can so that you or your family are not left without access to money matters a great deal. This is not about being maudlin, but about looking after your family.
Winston Churchill is a towering figure in British political history but was also an orator and writer. What I want to focus on is a quote that is relevant to most of our lives, even now, over 100 years after he said them: